{Tacos are perfect shells of love - Rayle}

[Rachel Reed]

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Rachel, unlike most teenagers, had no issue with her first job being in the fast food industry. She saw this as an opportunity to really learn more about the second best career path in the world. How could anyone not want to do this? She had amazing coworkers who she got along fabulously with and she got a discount on delicious tacos! Plus, she sort of stole the occasional plate of nachos when she was working a particularly busy shift and didn't get to take her lunch right away. Like today, she was supposed to be off (which was why she was already in her clothes) but her manager asked her if she could deal with just a few more customers at the register. She didn't have any problem helping out so she did this task with a wide smile on her face. She didn't really have any issues with rudeness so she didn't feel the same dread about working overtime. She was naive that she actually believed that they were just being kind to her.. Tough love.

The line of customers was slowly but surely dwindling down to almost nothing and she figured that she'd be able to get her cute little booty out of there soon and right home to her father's kitchen. She had a lot of baking to do! She was planning on sending her mother a care package though she wasn't really sure what sort of things would survive the trip to England. Could she even send food internationally? She assumed so since she'd saw quite a few things like 'care packages for the military' which was going overseas unless maybe that was only for people in the military.

She hadn't read up on that at all since she was sort of scared that she'd accidentally read something depressing like 'America and Canada at war - world will no longer produce glitter glue' or something actually realistic since even she knew that glitter glue would never stop existing. How could someone survive art projects with just plain boring old Elmer's glue? Speaking of that, did she have any left at her dad's or even at her dorm? She made a quick mental note to pick some up at Michael's just in case before looking over to her manager in hopes that she could leave now.

"Is it okay if I head out now, Marissa?" She wouldn't be upset if she had to stay just a little bit longer but she was really hoping that she could get out of there and do the things that she actually had to do. "Just stay a little longer, Rachel... Just until Pauline's shift starts in fifteen minutes." Fifteen minutes was totally do-able! She accepted this without complaint and resumed her position at the register. She just wished that she had more cute boys to look at while she worked! Everyone coming in right now seemed to be middle aged and with their children not that she had a problem with that but she couldn't exactly stare at a thirty-five year old married man's ass now could she?

Well, she probably could but she wasn't a home-wrecker and didn't find it attractive to flirt with people in relationships of any kind.

[Kyle Stockholm]

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Mid-afternoon and where was Kyle but walking through the parking lot at the local Taco Bell. The boy had a serious problem. He'd woken up not thirty minutes ago, and here he was getting Taco Bell. Usually Rory was with him on a trip like this... but the lazy lump was still asleep. Also very hungover. Poor kid. So naturally, Kyle was going to be the perfect roomie and bring his pal back a twelve pack of tacos. Well, it might come back like a four pack. Tacos just didn't last that long in Kyle's car. It never worked like that. Never. Soon, they'd start calling his name. And soon, they'd be dropping down his throat.

Stepping through the front door of the restaurant, Kyle pulled his wallet from his jeans and held it in his hands as he stuck his nose in the air to read the signs. He already knew what he wanted, but he had a habit of reading the signs anyway. And today it proved beneficial as they had a new item: a brownie sandwich. That looked too good for Kyle's sugar-coated eyeballs to pass up. Immediately, his stomach was screaming that he'd need two of those.

After approaching the counter, Kyle looked down at his wallet and stuck a thumb into the pocket that held the money. He had more than enough for a twelve pack and two drinks, so those brownie sandwiches weren't nearly out of the question. "Hi," he greeted the cashier absentmindedly as he thumbed through the bills. When he finally looked up, he just barely recognized the girl from school and smiled sweetly. "Can I have a twelve pack, all soft, with one regular baja and one baja freeze? Also two of those brownie thingers," he said, waving his hand at the sign with the picture of the brownie sandwich.

[Rachel Reed]

Rachel was starting to anxiously check the clock every five or so seconds when she heard someone walk into the building and she tried to look at least somewhat professional. She sort of lost that when she noticed that it was a rather cute boy and not another middle aged man with a wife and children. She offered a warm smile in greeting before realizing that he actually looked kind of familiar. Had she seen him around before? Church? No. The zoo? No... School? Ah yes! He looked like someone that she had seen around school but she just couldn't put her finger on what his name was or if she'd ever actually formally met him. She assumed since he didn't say hello or anything that they hadn't and just left it at that. "The brownie things are delicious." She assured him with a smile as she entered his order into the machine. She'd been sneaking them since they first starting selling them the other week.

She actually decided to take a little bit of a 'risk' and compliment the adorable boy on how amazing that his face was only in a less creepy way. "You look familiar.. Do you go to Somerset High School? I can't imagine forgetting a cute face like yours." She mentally cursed herself for not better hiding that damn accent. Why couldn't her mother have just stayed in America after her father cheated on her and not dragged her children back to England? She didn't necessarily hate having an accent but she wished that there was a way for her to get rid of it during certain times like now when she was trying to impress a cute boy. What if he found the whole thing to be rather unappealing? "It'll be about ten minutes before your order is ready."

She always hated telling people that there would be any kind of a wait before they got their meals like she should somehow magically be able to pull the food right out. She would if she could and it'd always be perfectly warm and fresh but that simply wasn't possible - she wasn't yet and probably never would become a wizard despite how many times that she watched the Harry Potter movies, read the books or purchased the merchandise. She'd even tried going to the Harry Potter land thing and that didn't work! It was really rather disappointing that she didn't leave feeling like she'd experienced Hogwarts.

[Kyle Stockholm]

Kyle looked at the girl and blushed when she said he was cute. Through a bit of a chuckle and a crooked smile, he said, "yes, yes I do go to Somerset. I'll assume you do too." Fingers back in his wallet, Kyle removed a twenty and handed it to her. "I'll take your word on those brownies," he said before letting go of the bill and stepping to the side to wait for his order.

"What's your name?" he asked, leaning forward onto his elbows over the counter. There was no one behind him, so he figured it was just fine to not go sit on one of the benches. If someone else had been ordering, he'd be gone by now. But no one was here, so why not? "You've got a cute accent, by the way. How long have you been in the states?" Was that racist to ask? Probably. Kyle just shrugged it off, though, and continued smiling at the girl as he waited for his tacos.

(aly, if you think your posts are short, just look at this one)

[Rachel Reed]

Rachel sort of expected Kyle to just walk away to do other things while he waited and she was pleasantly surprised when he sat down and continued talking to her. Was a super attractive boy really interested in speaking to her beyond what was necessary? It wasn't like this was the first time that this had happened - Wyatt and Michael came to mind but she didn't honestly believe that this boy in particular would ever want to interact with someone like her. He seemed like he'd be the mega popular guy who dates girls who looked like they'd walked out of the pages of a Victoria's Secret magazine like Adriana or Keisha. Yeah, he definitely looked like that type. Was that a snap judgement? Nah, she decided quickly to just write it off as an observation of sorts. "I'm Rachel. What's yours? You seem like you'd have a really awesome name."

She didn't feel like she needed to include the fact that she was only named Rachel because her mother was a huge fan of Rachel Green from Friends.. That was information for another day! She could feel her cheeks glowing pink when he called her accent 'cute'.. Did boys really like that kind of thing? "I moved here about a year ago with my brother. Our dad lives in town and I've always wanted to live in New York so it all kind of worked out." She didn't really think that was too much information to share.. it was just a common fact. She wasn't about to go into deep details about her family though.. No need to make anyone uncomfortable!

[Kyle Stockholm]

"That's a nice name," Kyle said through a toothy smile as he looked down at the counter and folded and unfolded his hands maybe three times before saying that his name was Kyle. "Its not such an interesting name," he added when she said she thought he'd have an awesome name. "Kinda bland, huh?"

Cocking his head to the side, Kyle squinted his eyes a bit at her to try and get a feel for her person. Only a year here in America and she was working at a Taco Bell. That made him smirk. He more than figured they had Taco Bell in England, but he just found it odd that after moving to America, she'd gotten a job at a fast food restaurant. Ain't that America, huh? Smiling at the fact that she was also now talking to a boy that ate here on a regular basis, Kyle straightened up and pulled his hands behind his back, cracking his shoulders. "That's pretty cool," he said softly with a bit of a groan after shaking his arms out and letting them fall back to his sides. "I've never been anywhere but America. Used to live in Ohio but.. that's it as far as moving. England is pretty sick."

When his food came, Kyle noted a girl walking up to Rachel. She had a uniform on, and only now did it strike Kyle that Rachel did not. He found it odd and tilted his head, but figured there was a reasonable explanation. "Young lady," he said firmly, but with a cute smile, "do you even work here or have I been talking to a taco vending imPERSonator, hmmmm?" Taking the tray in one hand and leaning on the counter with his other, Kyle wiggled his eyebrows in her direction before breaking into a fit of giggles as the new girl took her place at the register.

"This is me assuming you're off work now," he started in a gentle tone, "And this is me asking you to join me for some tacos. I'll be sitting over there. You can join me, if you want, when you're ready."

[Rachel Reed]

Rachel actually laughed out loud when Kyle 'accused' her of being a 'taco vending impersonator' mainly because it gave her the mental picture of someone actually trying to impersonate a Taco Bell employee to give tacos to all. "I am most certainly an impersonator, you caught me." She played along a little before he mentioned that he was assuming that she was off of work now. Had he just invited her to hang out with him while he ate those delicious tacos? She knew logically that she should say no and go about her business since she did need to get to work on that care package but she just didn't want to. She didn't want to stop talking to him just yet! How strange was that? She had barely met him and she was already so curious about him. What kind of person was he? Did he like cats or dogs? What was his favorite color? What kind of family did he have? Did he grow up with brothers and sisters or was he an only child? How did he feel about that?

If she could ask all of that without sounding completely and totally insane then she'd happily listen to all of his answers whether they were long and drawn out stories involving deep personal meaning or short and to the point. Did that make her unusual? She figured that 'curious' and 'inquisitive' were better words to go with. She skipped into the back room to clock out and think about how she could actually ask him all of those things. Could she casually bring up the fact that she loved twenty questions? Even though she'd never actually played it and had absolutely no idea what the point of it was. Did you just as twenty random questions that the other person had to answer? Why would that be so popular? She assumed that she was incorrect and decided not to bring it up when she got to Kyle's table.

"Hey there.. I got another twelve pack of tacos that we can share." She placed them in the middle of the table before sitting across from him and crossing her legs a bit awkwardly. "I don't know why anyone would get anything else from the menu.. I mean the tacos are clearly the best." She felt like she was just stating a fact as she took a sip from her diet coke. He definitely seemed like the type of person who liked tacos. She wasn't even thinking about all of the various things that she still needed to do when she got home or the fact that she had more assignments due in the next week than anyone ever probably should.

[Kyle Stockholm]

"Oh that was sweet of you," Kyle said, watching as the purple box of tacos landed before him. He'd planned on sharing the box he'd bought for Rory, but this seemed like a better idea. Now Rory could actually have tacos and Kyle wouldn't eat them all on the ride home. Well... okay let's be honest here, he'd still probably eat half. If this boy were to die young, his tombstone would read, "death by Tacos" and he'd wanted to be buried beneath the restaurant. "Tacos really are the best," he agreed with a happy smile as he reached forward to unhook the little cardboard hinges that kept the box closed.

After pulling out his first taco and unwrapping it, Kyle tore open a packet of hot sauce and began dripping it over the meat. "So Rachel goes to Somerset," he said through a sigh, then looked up from his taco at her. "What grade are you?" It seemed this was always how he started his conversations with girls. It kind of made sense, I guess. It might be weird if she was like.. fourteen or something. Well no that wouldn't be weird. But it would tell him to not flirt. Even though he wasn't eighteen yet, it was still weird to flirt with a fourteen year old. But then again, she had a job. So she couldn't be fourteen, right? Probably like, what, sixteen at the youngest? And that was only a year younger than him so naturally, he was fine with that.

"I think more than half of Taco Bell's money comes from my pocket," he added a bit later, picking up his taco and taking a rather large bite. Literally, he ate at least half of it in one bite. It tasted so freaking amazing.. god did he love tacos.

[Rachel Reed]

"I get a discount so I figured why not get more tacos? I mean we both agree that tacos are the absolute best thing in the world." Rachel couldn't think of one single reason why a person wouldn't want more tacos in their life! Unless that person was a vegetarian or heaven forbid allergic to taco shells! She'd met someone before who was and she didn't at all envy the sad life that they must be living. "I'm a sophomore and I'm sixteen... What about you? What grade are you in? How old are you? I bet you're like a snazzy seventeen year old senior with a bunch of ladies chasing you for a chance to consider you their friend... You look like the totally popular type." She nodded after saying her small observation and turned her attention to a delicious taco. She'd asked them to add extra cheese to her's so that just made the whole experience ten times better than usual.

"I still can't believe that I've never met you before. You're so cute! I'm sure that if I saw you around campus than I'd just have to talk to you." Was she flirting right now? She honestly didn't know yet if she actually meant something by it or if she was just saying words that happened to sound nice in her head. She wanted to ask him so many various things like his favorite color, animal, life history but she figured that it wasn't the right time just yet. She'd have the opportunity to find all of that information out soon enough well hopefully. She didn't know how this afternoon was going to go down but she knew that the thought of getting to know him better excited her. He just seemed like he was a very genuine person who wouldn't just attempt to butter her muffin.

She cleared her throat a bit awkwardly before taking another sip of her diet coke. Had she said too much? Should she have stopped talking before? She didn't want to literally talk his ear off or anything!

[Kyle Stockholm]

Kyle nodded, happy with the fact that he'd properly guessed her age. "Bingo," he said when she guessed that he as seventeen. "Junior, though. Not a senior yet." He snorted a bit when she carried on saying how she figured he was popular with girls chasing him and how he was cute and all. This girl was awfully flirty. Seemed a bit thirsty, too. But that only made him smile wider.

"I'm socially camouflaged," Kyle said and then took a bite of his taco. "I'm not easily seen in crowds. My brown hair, brown eyes and average sense of style make me look like your average anxiety ridden teenager," he added, giving himself a bit of an Australian accent and putting on his best Steve Irwin impersonation. Step one was to get the girl to smile, and he hoped that might work.

(its short because i'm tired. fight me.)